Rosella
by ZeenoMCR
Summary: Before the Time War and before he graduated the Academy, he found the one person that was willing to run with him. And afterwards, there she was again. She would always find him. I chose 9 as the character because he's the one that makes the biggest appearance other than 1. Based on "Rosella" by Robert Edgar Burns


**Author's Note: **So, this is just something that popped into my head during a marathon of Doctor Who stuff on BBC America; it was the baddies and the Doctor's best moments and the science, and the ladies of DW is on. There's actually technology out there that could create cyborgs. Creeeeeeeeeeepy. Anyway, this story has nothing to do with that. It's to do with the fact that I looked up poetry because I was bored and DW was there so I just started looking up random things that related and I ended up with a poem that made me think.

_She likes to tell of butterflies  
And sunshine in the spring.  
With art of little boys and girls  
And the blessings that they bring._

_Her moniker is Starlight!  
But her friends just call her Rose.  
Artistic is what comes to mind  
If you'd ask me what she does._

_If you happen to be a lady  
She will always call you sis!  
She simply calls me her dear friend,  
For I look terrible in a dress! _

_At times she writes of flowers,  
And Robin's up in the trees.  
And inside of all her writes  
You can feel the soft cool breeze.  
_-"Rosella" by Robert Edgar Burns

Growing up, Theta Sigma had few friends.

Sure, sure, there was Kosechi, but he could be quite a bully. Therefore, Theta was often alone, left to watch the others as they joked and smiled.

The Time Lords' academy was open every day to any child that had looked into the untempered schism and made it out with their sanity and their life. So of course when most of the school was on holiday, Theta was one of the few that remained behind. They weren't required to wear uniforms on the holidays; in fact, they didn't even attend lessons. So Theta sat underneath of a tree, watching as a group of girls giggled and tittered to one another.

And behind them snuck another girl, her wide lips set in a smile and her straight hair falling in a brown curtain around her face. In street clothes, she was very different from the quiet girl he had every so often noticed, her hair pulled into a strict bun and her lips set into a thin line. Her name was Starlight Rosella, he remembered as he watched as the skinny girl slunk up behind the tittering girl, plunged a hand into the pocket of the blonde's robes, and extracted a wallet. Still grinning, she turned and ran, her quick hands tucking the wallet into a pocket in her jacket. None of the girls had even remotely noticed this girl. Starlight fell into a pile of awkward legs and giggles at the foot of his tree, her hair spread out beautifully.

Wait, what?

He'd thought her beautiful that day, even though he never knew anything about her. He'd never even noticed her, really. She grinned at him, noticing his staring. "Hello, there! You're Theta Sigma, yeah?"

He liked her bluntness, but it unnerved him. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was a girl and she was _talking to him._ "Uh, well, yeah, I am. Theta, that is, um, that's my name."

She let out a giggle, her gigantic smile putting supernovas to shame. "Aren't you just adorable! I'm Starlight Rosella, but everyone just calls me Rose."

"You're in my class, aren't you?"

Her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember. "Oh, yeah, physics. String theory and all that. Weren't you in my quantum algebra class way back when?"

"Yeah!" Theta replied, his eyes lighting up. "You always figured things out faster than anyone and it annoyed Lady Thane."

"You gave me a good run for my money, Sigma." Rose teased, sitting up and edging a bit closer.

He grinned at her. "I saw a run for _someone's_ money earlier, but I don't think it was yours."

Rose smirked. "She's rich. She's got money to spare. I'm a girl that's got nothing and no one, so I need it more than her. And I'm not apologising to her. And since I've got a load of dough now and you're here and it's a holiday... Let's go have fun."

"Fun?" he asked. "Fun? You're a Time Lady in training and you're thinking about fun?"

She nodded eagerly. Theta nodded back. "Let's go!"

Some time later, they found themselves wandering the streets, one eating a waffle with bananas on it, and the other licking chocolate off of her fingers from the mini cake that she'd bought. As the second sun began to ascend, Rose shrugged off her jacket, something that the prudish women of the upper city never did. Down in the lower city, there were women whose stomachs were bared and hair hung loose around their faces. Men wore simple and informal shirts and shorts. There weren't stiff robes or classes. It was just the true Gallifreyans—not the snobby Time Lords. Theta's eyes stayed locked on Rose. Her bare shoulders were scattered with intricate Circular Gallifreyan and tribal tattoos.

Rose's eyes occasionally drifted to Theta, which wasn't odd for her. She had a specific taste in boys, and Theta really hit the mark. He was smart yet not obsessed with school. He wasn't snobby, and he wasn't the perfect gentleman like most of the boys. It didn't help that he really _was_ adorable on those dorky moments when he stuttered, and pretty cute otherwise. He was from the upper city, that much she knew, whereas Rose had always lived in the hovels of the lower city. But they were both parentless and friendless, and had shared the same amount of suffering. So she allowed herself to enjoy the boy's company, and leave behind Starlight Rosella. And he was staring, she noticed with a tiny smirk.

They stepped into a museum as the day grew hot. At the back corner, tucked away and unnoticed, was an old Type 40 TARDIS. Rose stepped inside first, the interior eliciting a small gasp. "Oh, aren't you beautiful?"

"That is honestly the most beautiful thing I've seen in my whole life," said Theta, his hands brushing against the console.

The Time Rotor lit up blue, wheezing slightly as the dusty old machine came alive at his touch. Rose glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "You know how to fly?"

"Failed the test," he replied cheerily. "Did it on purpose, though. I got a fifty last time around. Meant to get a fifty-one so I could pass, but I misplaced a decimal and ended up failing."

"This is my first time through," Rose admitted. "I can't imagine flying this thing already. I know how, but I don't want to do anything wrong."

Theta grinned. "I'll show you. Come on."

And he did. The student that had failed his test on purpose showed Rose how to fly an antique TARDIS. When she got the last step a bit wrong, Theta rushed up behind her, his arms reaching around her to hit the right lever so that they didn't crash-land. When they landed, the stabilizers hadn't been put on, so they both fell backwards, Rose managing to topple on top of Theta. She blushed madly. "OH! Oh, gosh, I'm so..."

They had both noticed their close proximity. Their faces were just inches apart, and Theta's eyes were fading to a darker colour than Rose had seen before.

"Theta," Rose breathed. "We shouldn't... It's not..."

"Who cares?" he whispered back, and closed the gap between their lips.

It was their first adventure and not their last. When they ran from the museum with the guards chasing after them, Rose yanked him into a back alley, where they nearly fell over laughing. She kissed him then, challenging him to do something about it if he liked her. And he did. They lay under the stars in the red grass of one of Gallifrey's meadows that night, her head tucked onto his chest.

Years later, he had suggested they go back for the Type 40 TARDIS and run away. So they did.

Years after that, there was a war. Rose and Theta were both called to fight. They kissed before they were pulled apart, and she told him to guard his name well. She said that it was the one thing that could be used to hurt him. He agreed that he would, and she whispered a name across his lips: Doctor. She said he was wise and he was a healer, so he should call himself that. She told him that she loved him and that she'd always find her way back. She never saw him again.

And so, even more years later, the Doctor is in the basement of a shop, looking for a way to blow it up so no one dies and that the living plastic is eliminated. This body was born of war, and he can't feel any mercy for the creature that's threatening the Earth, a planet that's as close to a home as he can feel. But then he hears a voice, accented and high-pitched, calling out. And then he hears her fear—can feel it thrumming off of her body as she backs away. But there's something beneath the excitement that reminds him of the beautiful, kind, strong woman he had and would always love. So he lets himself make a snap decision. The war-torn Theta Sigma, AKA: the Doctor, takes the hand of the nineteen-year-old shop girl Rose Tyler. If she listens to what he's about to say, he knows he's found _her_ again, and that this time, he's not letting her slip away for anything. So he says one word that's fueled him since he was eight years old.

"Run!"

**Author's Note 2:** Starlight Rosella is supposed to be Chloe Dykstra. Good ol' Rose Tyler is Billie Piper, obviously.


End file.
